Family Matters
by GoldSeven
Summary: Noah Bennet helps Nathan take down Peter, while trying to keep the operation from getting out of hand... and finds he has plenty of work as early as the very first day. Set during "A Clear and Present Danger". One-Shot. Noah/Nathan/Danko/Mohinder/Peter.


**Setup** (a. k. a. "Which gap is Jenny filling today?"): Set during "A clear and present danger", but from Noah Bennet's POV, because I realised he could offer a huge amount of insight into pretty much everything.

Written mainly to tie up a couple of things (like what happened to Nathan and Peter's dinner plans, and what happened to the Haitian). And, of course, because Noah Bennet is pure awesomeness and needed his own fic. And fun to write he was, too.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Heroes.

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**Family matters**

"Steve, I'm just a humble junior senator from New York. But as chairman of the Senate Commission of Homeland Security it's my duty to protect and serve the people of America."

Noah Bennet watched the TV screen in the corner with half an eye as he finished his coffee in a café in downtown Manhattan. The interview with Nathan Petrelli, he knew, had been recorded three days ago; it was an ironic coincidence that it was airing now, of all times, on probably the most important day this operation had seen so far.

Not another day in the life of a paper salesman. To tell the truth, probably for the first time in twenty years, Noah wasn't sure where this day's work would leave him. He had taken down specials for the Company so many times that he sometimes thought he ought to worry about becoming careless, but this was new management, and new rules. Ten of us, none of them. Danko had been very clear about that. Noah wondered what other differences would manifest themselves today.

"Are we talking about terrorism?" The anchorman was asking.

"Let me assure you, the threat is real. I don't want to alarm the American public, but it's important that we take precautionary measures."

Yes, this was what it was all about, Noah thought, turning over a page of his newspaper without actually taking in much of it. Precautionary measures. On a huge scale. And where his goal, for twenty years, had been to keep the very existence of people with special abilities from the American as well as any other public, the focus had now shifted to not alarming anyone while carrying out the task. Taking in everyone no matter who they might be or what their abilities were. Find a cure for them, however Nathan was going to achieve that, and in what sort of time frame.

Today had been planned carefully, to make sure the teams could strike in several, critical, places at once, to minimize unforeseen occurrences. Their first priority had been people with dangerous or lethal abilities, with questionable morals, or those who knew – and could warn – each other.

Especially combinations of these three.

Strauss. Suresh. Parkman. The Haitian. Nakamura. Peter Petrelli.

Noah had asked to be part of the team that would take down the Haitian – because he had worked with him and had claimed he knew his weaknesses, which would probably be true if he had any – but Nathan wouldn't have anything of it; he needed him in New York. Noah knew why.

Peter.

Without ever being aware of it, Peter had become a political issue at Building 26. When Noah had joined the operation, a month ago, he had experienced the discussions about who would be let off the hook first hand. His adamant insistence that Claire be given a free pass had put Nathan into a tight spot he probably hadn't foreseen. Danko had been less than thrilled that the entire operation started out from the premise that some specials were more special than others; he had no idea that both Angela and Nathan had abilities, but he had somehow found out that Peter did. And Nathan had been forced to sacrifice his brother as proof for his own resolve in the operation.

And even while Nathan himself had pointed out repeatedly how dangerous Peter was, Noah knew he was just trying to convince himself that his actions were legit.

"More coffee?"

Noah nodded across the top of his paper at the waitress, standing at his table with the pot in her hand. "Thanks," he said as she poured.

"Really makes you wonder, doesn't it?" she said with her head turned in the direction of the TV.

Noah gave a noncommittal grunt.

"The sort of threat he's talking about, I mean," she went on, not taking the hint. "He does make it sound like this is really close to home, doesn't he?"

Noah half-folded the paper. "Good thing, then, that the security of this country is in such capable hands, isn't it?"

"Yes," she replied brightly, "I suppose it is!"

Noah watched her walking over to the next table as his mobile rang.

"Yes."

"Noah. This is Nathan."

"I'm just watching you on TV."

"I know. – I've heard from Danko."

"So?" Noah said, in a carefully neutral tone.

"He's got Tracy."

"Well," Noah replied, his voice still betraying nothing. "Congratulations."

Nathan coughed. "I want you to meet up with Danko and his team in four hours, to take down Suresh."

"I thought you wanted me to take care of Peter?"

Nathan coughed again. "He's working until afternoon. I'm going to talk to him tonight. See if he won't bury the hatchet… support what we're doing."

Noah put away his paper. Did Nathan actually believe a word of that? "You're going to hold off the flight until then?"

"Yeah." The clipped tone of Nathan's voice made it clear to Noah just how damn uncomfortable he was just now. "Peter gets another chance. If he won't see reason… we'll have to deal with him tonight."

Noah noted the use of "we". "How exactly are you going to proceed?"

Nathan exhaled sharply. "I'll let you know."

Noah took a sip of his coffee. "Where's Claire?"

"With my mother, as agreed. She will keep her out of everything until it's over."

It didn't take much to tell how much Nathan was wishing for the day to be over, and well over. Noah couldn't blame him. But despite all that was at stake today, he felt oddly like an observer, as if he could just take a good, long look at things and then decide how he'd proceed.

That was one of the upsides of morally grey.

"Where do I meet Danko?" he asked.

"He'll call you when he gets to NY, set up a rendezvous point."

"Good."

"Later, then."

As Noah pocketed the phone, he took another look at the TV, where another programme had replaced the interview with Nathan Petrelli.

* * *

"You've worked with the guy, right?"

Noah shot Emile Danko a long, measuring glance. "Yes."

"One of us, one of them?" Danko asked mockingly.

"No." Noah pointedly looked out of the window of the dark van that was parked on the top floor of a parking garage. It was half past three in the afternoon. Every few minutes, an analyst of Building two-six supplied them with the current position of Mohinder Suresh's cab. "Two of us, actually."

"Ah, I forgot." Danko didn't look as if he had forgotten. "Mr Hide used to be Dr Jekyll."

Noah didn't grace that with an answer.

"Well," Danko said, apparently disappointed with Noah's refusal to be baited, "let's just hope it doesn't compromise the outcome of this."

Noah slowly turned to regard him with a level gaze. "I can assure you it won't."

"Sir," one of Danko's men suddenly said. "We have a situation."

Both Noah and Danko turned.

"We've just been informed that Peter Petrelli has entered Suresh's taxi."

Noah saw Danko's alarmed expression, but there was also a look of greed mixed into it. Noah knew that look, and the desire to kill two birds with one stone. The problem was that it wasn't their objective to kill any birds; but a change of plans on the fly was more than likely to result in killed birds. Or in killed bird hunters.

"We stick to our plan," Noah told Danko with firmness in his voice.

"Is that the senator's orders?" Danko asked resentfully.

"No. It's common sense. You have absolutely no idea what Peter Petrelli can do. Senator Petrelli is going to take care of him, and we'll stick with that."

"What if he's gotten wind of something? What if he's warning Suresh?"

"There's no way he could have gotten wind of anything. And even if he was – think! He'd have warned Suresh already, and we'd be trying to take on two specials prepared for us, one of whom, probably both, has super strength. I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"You're not me." Danko was drumming against the car door while staring out of the window, then he finally turned to Noah again. "So what do you suggest?"

Instead of looking at Danko, Noah turned to the man who had just received the message from headquarters. "Where are they headed?"

The man checked back with Washington and then replied, "West."

Noah consulted the map of Manhattan lying on the dashboard. "_Not_ south?"

"No, sir."

Noah turned to Danko. "He's going to see his mother. She's got a house near Central Park. I'm willing to bet that's where they're headed. I'm going to go there, wait for Petrelli to get out, get into Suresh's cab, and send him right here. If I leave now I can beat them there. We _will_ deal with Petrelli. Just not right now."

Danko watched Noah with narrowed eyes as he assessed the plan. "_I'm_ going." He opened the door with a jerk, and went out.

Noah sighed. He couldn't say he was surprised. Danko didn't trust him, and was making sure he, Noah, didn't let Suresh get away.

He took out his cell phone and dialled a number.

"Petrelli."

"Bennet here. Peter is headed to your mother's."

There was a pause at the other end, and a suppressed curse.

"He's in Suresh's cab right now. Danko is going there, to intercept Suresh. I talked him out of trying to take them both."

"All right. I'm on my way."

"You want me to come?" Noah asked.

"No," Nathan said at once. "No," he then repeated, slightly less emphatically. "I'll deal with Peter. I'll call you back."

Noah shut off the phone, and stared fixedly at an imaginary point in the distance. Claire was at Angela Petrelli's house, and he didn't want Danko to go nearer her than a mile. But if he thought about it, he trusted Angela to keep Claire safe a lot more than he trusted Nathan.

* * *

Noah was sitting in a black SUV parked near the exit ramp on the top floor of the parking garage as he saw Suresh's taxi driving up the ramp opposite. He checked his C2-model Taser. This, he knew, was probably the weakest link in this part of the operation – how somebody with super strength would react to electroshocks.

He watched as Mohinder got out of his cab, Danko pointing his gun at him, the team standing ready with their rifles.

As Mohinder pulled off the door of his cab and swung it around at Danko, Noah gave a curse and started the car.

He intercepted Suresh a couple of storeys down. The scientist nearly ran into the SUV as Noah threw open the door.

"Get in."

Suresh stared at him, wild-eyed.

"You wanna live?" Noah shouted. "Get _in_!"

It hadn't even been that great a lie, Noah thought grimly as Suresh scrambled into the back seat. If he delivered Suresh, it would probably be alive. He wasn't sure if Danko would be quite as lenient after getting the car-door treatment.

"What the hell is going on?" Mohinder shouted as Noah drove away and down the ramp at breakneck speed. "Those guys just tried to kidnap me!"

"Do you know who they are?"

"No," Mohinder panted.

"Has anyone contacted you about people with abilities being attacked or abducted?"

"No."

"Have you had any contact with Claire?"

"No!"

"Or Parkman?"

"_No!_" Mohinder was shouting.

"What did Peter Petrelli tell you today?" Noah went on, even though he guessed the answer. What a strange coincidence this was.

"How did you know -?" Mohinder asked, aghast, as he finally realised that something was wrong. "Where did you come from?"

Noah made no reply as he pulled up in front of Team 2, waiting at the bottom level of the garage, which had already been joined by Danko, walking with a noticeable limp. The son of a bitch. Noah had better make sure Suresh came quietly, then.

"What are you doing?" Mohinder demanded, still in denial of the obvious.

Noah jabbed his taser into Suresh's thigh.

"Sorry, Mohinder."

The scientist actually managed to push open the door and make a few staggering steps towards the team before he went down, giving Noah a few tense seconds before he finally collapsed. Noah sighed explosively and exited the car.

As the team moved in to drug Suresh before he regained consciousness, Noah's cell rang again, and he answered it.

"Yes?"

"It's me." Nathan Petrelli's voice sounded strained. "Any news on Suresh?"

Noah watched as one of the soldiers was taping the drug shunt under Mohinder's nose. "We've got him," he said, impassive. "He won't give us any more trouble."

"Thank God for that," Nathan replied, relief apparent in his voice.

"Did you talk to Peter?" Noah wanted to know.

"Yes, and that's only one of our problems."

"O. K., I'm listening," Noah said.

"Not now. I need you to join me at Peter's apartment. Things have changed. We can't wait until tonight. Catch a cab and get here as soon as you can."

_Colour me intrigued_, Noah thought, but answered, with another look at the soldiers carrying Mohinder towards the van, "The cab isn't the problem; the driver might be…"

"What?"

"I'm on my way."

* * *

Nathan Petrelli was waiting in an alleyway near the house were Peter lived when Noah arrived, and the way he was pacing told him that he had been waiting for a while. Or at least, he had considered it to be a while.

"Peter's not home yet," Nathan told him without preamble as he beckoned him into the doorway and let them in.

"You've got a key?" Noah asked.

"I used to come here a lot while…" Nathan's voice trailed off, and Noah was left to deduce he meant the time when everyone had thought Peter had died in the explosion above New York.

Nathan didn't offer any more while they took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor and entered Peter's apartment. When the door fell shut behind them, Noah turned to him with a slightly quizzical expression.

"Just before I called you," Nathan finally said, "I got a call from team four. Your very special friend has evaded capture."

"Which of my very special friends?" Noah asked, although he was fairly certain he knew.

Nathan was not in the mood to play games. "The Haitian. The member of team four who called me was the only one of the entire squad who could even remember what the hell he was doing in Haiti."

Noah forewent a gratuitous "I told you so", trusting his silence to be eloquent enough.

Nathan didn't show any reaction. "So, that's why we're here. I talked to Peter at my mother's house. I tried to get his support, but he wouldn't give it."

"So that's why we're here," Noah repeated.

"Give me one more chance to make him see reason. If that doesn't work…" Nathan broke off and looked up, but wouldn't meet Noah's eyes. "You brought…?" He didn't even finish that sentence.

"Yeah." Noah refrained from brandishing his Taser, or the heavy-duty dose of Phenobarbital in his inside pocket. He had a feeling Nathan might call the whole thing off right now if he got too many unsavoury details. "One more chance," he repeated, and in his mind, he added, _one more chance to convince yourself there was no alternative_.

Nathan just nodded, making it plain he would rather have been anywhere else at that moment.

"Any hidden signs for me?" Noah asked.

"No. Just… stay out of sight."

It was Noah's time to nod, and he edged through the bathroom door just when he heard the front door being unlocked.

No hidden signs were needed. As Noah stood there, listening to Nathan's protestations that what he was doing was "hugely important to this country", and that he was giving Peter a chance to understand before he "made a decision that could change his life forever", he knew, even from the brief dealings he had had with Peter Petrelli, that this wasn't the sort of language he would listen to. Peter's suspicion was being made abundantly clear by his walking back and locking the front door. And in the end, it was Peter giving the most eloquent sign Noah could have hoped for when he told Nathan in his face that he was going to fight him with every breath he had.

Noah watched Nathan pull his brother into a hug with a look of self-loathing on his face that would have made Peter smell the trap if he had been able to see it; when they broke apart, Noah didn't give him any time to react, but pressed the taser into the younger Petrelli's shoulder and triggered it. Peter jerked convulsively, and Nathan moved in to catch him before he fell. His face was mask-like as he eased him into a chair, murmuring, "I'm sorry, Pete."

Then he straightened, told Noah, in a flat tone, "Don't hurt him," and fled the scene, leaving him to do the cleanup work.

As Noah administered the drug that would render Peter incapacitated until more effective measures could be taken, he could not help but wonder just how far Nathan Petrelli's resolve would hold. On the other hand, if it had held through this, it was hard to imagine where it would stop.

But then there was Danko.

Still, Noah reminded himself, the day had gone mostly successful. Nearly all targets captured, and without any casualties on either side, as far as he knew right now.

It was a start. With some luck, by this time tomorrow, the hard part would be over.

And Noah Bennet would be watching.


End file.
